Senior Culinary R&D & Product Development Chef

At Delicut, we help people eat better, every day. We bring together great food, personalised nutrition and thoughtful technology to make eating well easier—giving our customers one less thing to think about. We’re building a team that cares about the details, takes ownership and holds itself to high standards. As we grow, we’re looking for people who want to do meaningful work, support each other and make everyday life better for our customers. We're looking for an outstanding Senior Culinary R&D & Product Development Chef to shape our menu and growing food product range—combining exceptional taste, nutritional understanding and technical expertise. Your work will reach customers through our established meal subscription business and new product categories, taking ideas from the R&D kitchen into everyday life. This is a hands-on culinary development role with ownership from concept through launch and continuous improvement. You'll work closely with our founder, nutrition, quality and operations teams, production partners and specialist consultants. You'll develop food that customers love, meets nutritional goals and performs consistently at commercial scale. Our development scope spans meals, breakfasts, healthy desserts, snacks, salads, bowls, sandwiches, wraps, sauces, dressings, marinades and protein products, drawing inspiration from diverse global cuisines. Interested? Apply through LinkedIn and complete our short application form here: 👉 https://forms.gle/eLnakToqHmejfUkM8 Please note: Only applicants who complete the external application form will be considered. Key Responsibilities 1. Culinary Innovation & Product Development • Create flavourful, satisfying meals for balanced, high-protein, low-carbohydrate and calorie-controlled menus. • Develop breakfasts, salads, bowls, sandwiches and wraps with thoughtful combinations, appealing textures and distinctive flavours. • Create healthier desserts and snacks that deliver enjoyment while meeting clear nutritional targets. • Develop marinated and ready-to-cook chicken, meat, seafood and other protein products with excellent flavour, texture and convenience. • Explore new food concepts informed by customer preferences, culinary exploration and opportunities to make healthy eating more enjoyable. 2. Taste & Customer Satisfaction • Develop memorable flavours and refine the details that make customers want to order again. • Lead structured tastings and customer trials, translating feedback into better products. • Use customer ratings, complaints and repeat-order behaviour to prioritise improvements. • Balance menu variety with a strong collection of consistently excellent customer favourites. 3. Nutrition-Led Recipe Development • Create recipes within calorie, protein, carbohydrate, fat and portion targets without compromising taste. • Understand how ingredient substitutions affect flavour, texture, satisfaction and cooking performance. • Work with the nutrition team to verify nutritional calculations and recipe specifications. 4. Technical Development & Scale-Up • Take products from initial experiments through production trials, launch and ongoing improvement. • Develop sauces, dressings, marinades and seasoning systems that deliver consistent flavour. • Optimise protein flavour penetration, juiciness, tenderness and cooking yields. • Select and test appropriate preparation and cooking techniques, drawing on specialist expertise where needed. • Evaluate products under actual customer conditions, including chilled storage, delivery, reheating and home cooking. • Troubleshoot issues such as dryness, sogginess, separation, texture deterioration and inconsistent seasoning. 5. Commercial Execution & Consistency • Create precise recipe specifications covering ingredients, quantities, methods, yields, portions, presentation and cost. • Work with procurement to source ingredients and assess alternatives without compromising quality. • Run commercial-scale trials, train production teams and verify consistent execution across partner kitchens. • Collaborate with QA and food technologists on allergens, food safety, packaging and shelf-life validation. • Maintain an organised recipe database and development calendar. • Coordinate specialist consultants and translate their contributions into products ready for production. • Who we’re looking for We're looking for a chef who loves experimenting and takes equal pride in making the final product work reliably. The ideal candidate brings: • A proven track record in culinary R&D or new product development, with products personally taken from concept to commercial launch. • Broad culinary capability across food categories and diverse global cuisines. • An excellent palate and a strong understanding of flavour, texture, aroma and presentation. • Strong practical knowledge of nutrition, macronutrients, portion control and healthier ingredient substitutions. • Experience developing products for healthy meal brands, central kitchens, catering operations, ready meals, packaged foods or comparable environments. • The ability to preserve product quality through storage, transport, reheating and production at scale. • Commercial understanding of recipe costing, cooking yields, ingredient specifications and waste reduction. • Precision in documentation and testing, alongside the ability to train and collaborate with others. • Curiosity, initiative and the persistence to keep improving a product based on evidence. We value chefs who can explain why a recipe works, how to improve it and how to reproduce it consistently. Why Join Delicut? • Creative ownership: Help shape our menu, product standards and future food categories. • A platform to launch: Bring your ideas to customers through an established business and production network. • Direct customer feedback: See how your products perform and use those insights to improve them. • Variety and challenge: Develop across a broad range of foods, cuisines and nutritional needs. • Close collaboration: Work directly with the founder and the teams bringing your ideas to life. • What Success Looks Like Food customers look forward to eating and regularly reorder. Recipes our production teams execute consistently. New launches that meet agreed taste, nutrition, quality and cost standards.